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This Is Who We Are

Competitive sports breed common ground. Athletes, coaches and the people who support them come together for the love of a sport or the thrill of a game. Not everyone wins.

Through Special Olympics New York, though, everyone is included. Athletes with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to challenge themselves in fair and even competition. Win or lose, they develop their own character, make friends and find unknown wells of determination within themselves.

If you’re a fan of unity, acceptance, empowerment, dignity, pride and fun, you’re a fan of
Special Olympics New York.
You’re one of us.

Competitive sports breed common ground. Athletes, coaches and the people who support them come together for the love of a sport or the thrill of a game. Not everyone wins.

Through Special Olympics New York, though, everyone is included. Athletes with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to challenge themselves in fair and even competition. Win or lose, they develop their own character, make friends and find unknown wells of determination within themselves.

If you’re a fan of unity, acceptance, empowerment, dignity, pride and fun, you’re a fan of
Special Olympics New York.
You’re one of us.

MissionMission

Our Mission

To provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

History of Special Olympics in New York

Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded Special Olympics in 1968. Just one year later, Dorothy Buehring Phillips inaugurated the program in New York—and the state sent its first delegation of athletes and coaches to the Northeast Regional Special Olympics competition in Boston, Mass. Special Olympics New York was incorporated in 1970 with Phillips as its first State Director. In June 1970, Rochester hosted the first State Summer Games. Today, Special Olympics New York is the largest program in the United States and one of the largest in the world.

Athletes

Families

Volunteers

Partners

Staff & Board